Day: 20 April 2001

Agricultural waste product provides clean energy

US researchers have successfully used a combination of subbituminous coal and sunflower hulls to produce heat for a university campus.

Canadian government acts to clean up “deadly mining aftermath”

The Canadian government has announced a private-public partnership agreement costing up to CA $75 million (US $48 million) to clean up one of the worst sources of metal pollution in North America.

Bush Administration implements two energy efficiency standards but reverses another

The Bush Administration has approved standards requiring new clothes washers and water heaters to use less energy but decided to roll back an energy efficiency standard for central air conditioners.

US government sticks with stricter lead rule but prolongs arsenic decision still further

Under intense pressure from environmentalists for some display of ‘green’ credentials, the Bush Administration has announced that it will keep a Clinton era rule on the strict reporting of lead levels but will further delay implementation of a rule lowering arsenic in drinking water.

New Canadian website allows checks on local pollution and reveals Ontario as location of worst polluters.

A new website shows Canadians pollution levels in their postal district and has revealed a state-owned power plant in Ontario as the nation’s worst polluter.

Ecotax for Spanish tourist islands moves a step nearer

The government of Spain’s Balearic Islands has approved a bill to tax tourists for every night they stay in Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza or Formentera.

European companies leave much room for improvement in environmental management policies

A survey of Europe’s largest companies’ corporate environmental management policies concludes that there is substantial scope for improvement.

Dutch first to use international ‘flexible mechanisms’ under Kyoto Protocol

The Dutch government has announced that it is the first to use the so-called ‘flexible mechanisms’ permitted under the Kyoto Protocol by buying CO2 reductions from Central and Eastern Europe.

New report shows major European rivers are of poor ecological quality, most countries have inadequate environmental monitoring systems and will fail to meet the EU’s Water Framework Directive

Due to the impacts of canalisation, dams, pollution and altered flow regimes, 50 out of 69 river stretches in Europe, including several in the UK, are of poor ecological quality and most European countries have inadequate environmental monitoring systems to protect their biodiversity and to properly safeguard their water resources, a new report says.

“No threat to environment” from major refinery explosion

Conoco has said that there is no risk to the environment after a major explosion at a Humberside refinery.

Report advocates paying upland farmers to steward the land

A Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF) report is set to advocate paying farmers a hill environment land management payment to recognise the value of hill farms to environmental protection, maintenance of the countryside and rural communities.

Major UK retailer goes peat-free

Environmentalists said that the long-term future of some of the UK’s finest wildlife sites has been given a considerable boost with the announcement that B&Q plans to stop the sale of peat.

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